EliteXC: Building To Make Them Buy

Fresh off of EliteXC’s Saturday night card, talk has turned to the October card and possible match-ups between Carano vs Cyborg, Diaz vs Noons, and possibly Kimbo vs Rogers. While these are certainly exciting match-ups, putting them forth as possible match-ups for the October card is a bit misguided. Doing these fights on free TV would go against the strategy laid out by DeLuca as it relates to EliteXC’s television and PPV strategy:

Doug DeLuca: Absolutely, the Pay-Per-View model is the goal for most people in this sport. So, yes, it’s our goal, too. The exact plan is broadcast television drives the Pay-Per-View. It builds stars. SHOWTIME to CBS. CBS to Pay-Per-View. Build stars, build the interest in the stars, let people know even more that these fighters – the guys and gals — are people and they have real stories and make people care about them and drive the Pay-Per-View. So that’s absolutely the goal. As far as timing goes, you’ll probably see a Pay-Per-View from us early in ‘09.




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I dont know if elitexc could ever put on a card that i would buy on ppv. Maybe if their company gets bigger in the next year or so.

Although I really want to see the Noons/Diaz fight, I will not buy a PPV headlined by Slice

There is no way i would buy a ppv for elite xc they dont enough good fights on each cards

i'd pay to see lawler, diaz, shields. your going to need some more top fighter's elite xc.

Which means they're going to keep putting their stars against cans in free shows and keep it as predictable as possible. Boring...

Afflictions card is the first non UFC card to do decent on ppv....Elite cannot come close to matching that talent, they should stick to cbs.

It would take Elite XC in on hell of a co-promotion with someone else before I'd get excited at all.

They're getting waaaay ahead of themselves. If they are going to treat the CBS shows like they're some sort of springboard instead of putting their best talent into them, they'll keep on getting low-rated shows like on Saturday.

See, the only thing I liked about their business model is that it was on tv instead of ppv. Most sports are free and MMA should be the same way. If the SuperBowl or World Series were on ppv it wouldn't generate the numbers they do. The immediate cash flow comes from ppv (IF you have good buys) but the long term financial success comes from putting ppl in front of a tv (advertising dollars) All of the major sports have figured this out, and it's hard for a company like UFC to make such a drastic change, but if they kept this model I think it's the one thing that would give their promotion a shot at lasting.

Who would pay to watch EliteXC on PPV? Not me. Not enough solid fighters to put on PPV's. It's kind of dissapointing that were going to keep seeing there better fighters not fighting each other because they want to keep them for PPV's. Totally shot down my dream of seeing Carano vs. Cyborg and Kimbo vs. Rogers.

that man is crazy I really think its a matter of time before the UFC buys them out I say within the next 2 years I would never pay $40 hell I would dish out $20 for a PPV from EXC I don't think anyone would just wait and watch the fights for free on the web

i ain't spending 150 dollars a month for pay per view buys for mma events
and no one else either, the bars will wise up and start charging more
it will come down to who has the best card and i wiould rather buy afflication second to the ufc then elite xc

I think they could put on a decent PPV, they have several organisations under the ProElite banner to pull fighters from.

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